OWASP Newsletter #9 (5-June-2007)

If you have any content to add to the next edition, feel free to add it directly to its WIKI page (OWASP Newsletter 10).

Sebastien Deleersnyder

Belgium Chapter Leader

Featured Item: SpoC2007 Selections Made !

OWASP is funding over 25 new application security projects this Spring with over $120,000. There are a variety of tools, documents, and other projects in the works. These projects are well underway and are targeted to be complete by the end of July. Congratulations to all the participants - everyone is looking forward to your work!

The 6th OWASP AppSec Conference was held May 15-17 in Milan, Italy. Microsoft presented on "The Benefits of the SDL initiative to Microsoft and its Customers" and there were expert talks on Web Services Security, Securing AJAX, the Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle, all the new OWASP projects, and much more.

We are now starting to plan the details for the 7th OWASP AppSec Conference which will be held in Oct 2007 in the San Jose, CA area. This conference will be our biggest ever with two full days of tutorials, two days for the conference (including a new 3rd track on Web Services Security), and a vendor booth area for the first time. Please check back for additional details which should be available soon.

Featured (non-OWASP) Project: Security Through Scrutiny: Java Open Review Project

A joint project from the Findbugs group and Fortify Software is examining open source components for security and quality defects. The project, accessible at http://opensource.fortifysoftware.com, allows participants to:

submit projects to be scanned with Findbugs and Fortify Source Code Analysis suite

help review potential defects through the online code review interface

keep track of project defects as they are uncovered and fixed by the open source community

receive tips on performing code reviews for security defects

The project is open to all Java open source projects and any person that wants to contribute, either through code reviews, project submissions, or project feedback. Current projects include: Tomcat, Jforums, Azureus, Nuxeo, Spring, Struts, select OWASP projects, and more!

People are encouraged to visit the site: http://opensource.fortifysoftware.com for more details or stop by the Fortify/Findbugs demo booth at JavaOne 2007. Project owners that are interested in being featured can email: openaudit <at> fortifysoftware <dot> com

Application Security News

"First it was porn, now it's privacy - a technical stuff-up on reality show Big Brother's website is said to have exposed the personal details of fans who signed up for its special features. Following reports that visitors to a pirate Big Brother site were sent to a hardcore porn page, it now seems the names and phone numbers of people who registered for the official site were able to be viewed by others"

Ken van Wyk discusses the importance of process for producing secure software, and notes that attacks on Vista may undermine the general support for Microsoft's approach. Check out Michael Howard's talk from the last OWASP conference for a great discussion on the success of the SDL.

Bruce Schneier finally chimes in on an [old OWASP theme] - the problem of assymetric information between software buyers and sellers. He only talks about security products, but the same problem affects all types of software. Check the [Software Facts Label which is an idea for actually doing something to change the game.

Despite all the good stuff at OWASP, Scott Berinato is giving up. "No official announcement is forthcoming, but the Internet is broken and it can't be repaired. Oh, it's still there. You can still use it. Then again, if you went hiking and came across an old, broken-down mine shaft, you could still use that, too."